Update from Lacie ~

The last couple of days have been a whirlwind! On Monday morning, I had about an hour of MRI’s followed by pre-op stuff at the hospital. In the afternoon I had a couple of appointments at TCI. I have been feeling the prayers ~ keep them coming. I am seriously humbled by the effect of prayer. I have felt totally at peace, no nerves what so ever. I am actually feeling a bit giddy ~ finally I have arrived for brain surgery and I am looking forward to getting this all behind me.

We were in and out of TCI in a record hour and a half ~seriously wonderful. After my nurse practitioner took my vitals she walked me in to meet with Dr. B. It was so nice to sit down with him and chat about my surgery. I really haven’t spoken with him since my initial visit back in May of 2006. He answered all my questions and outlined how the surgery would go. Seeing pics of my 3-D CT scan were really cool. Something Dr. B pointed out to me was that I have freakishly large C2 ~ can you see my shocked expression? Anyhoo, having this large C2 is a great advantage, because it will help hold my head up after the decompression. Dr. B decided to go ahead with the invasive cervical traction to see if I could benefit from the fusion in the future.

So, I was instructed to not have anything to eat or drink after midnight on Monday. When I got to the hospital at noon for my same day admission they couldn’t find my name on the list. After a couple of phone calls my docs were located and my procedure was confirmed for 1pm. As I was getting into my oh so stylish green hospital gowns the fire alarm went off. The nurse came over and said not to worry, there was smoke located in the building, but thankfully not in our area of the hospital. So, I walked down to the OR, when I got there they had discovered that the bed didn’t work and were in the process of switching it out. I answered a bunch of questions with the anethesiogist while he was putting my IV in. Once they were ready to go I got some Twilight put into my IV and I was unconscious for a couple of minutes. When I woke up they started putting weights on the traction unit. Basically I had two screws in my temples with a big bucket handle attached. It took about 25 lbs of weights before I felt any relief in my headache. So, that said, I have cervical cranial instability and would benefit from the fusion surgery at a later date.

Thanks so much for all of the e-mails and well wishes, I had no idea what a big fan club I have! John will keep you posted as the day progresses tomorrow and I will be back on line as soon as I can type. See you on the other side of decompression.